It's with a VERY VERY heavy heart that I am writing this....Recently a very special sole was taken far far to early due to the awful illness of mental health. Those of you who knew Jon will know he was the life and soul of the party! Jon was always smiling and oh did he love his hugs, clothes, TKMAX and the chinese buffet! He was loved by so many people and the turn out for his funeral proved that. The funeral director said he had never before seen a turn out like that for a funeral in all of his 22 years as a funeral director.

So I am running a 10K race in just under 2 weeks and upon hearing about a local charity in Wallasey, where Jon lived, I decided I wanted to do anything I can to help others who suffer from mental health and hopefully prevent this illness taking another life. Mental health is becoming far to common, especially in men and this charity helps and supports people who are suffering with the illness.

A bit about the charity.... It's called The Open Door and its been going since 2011 and has grown so much over the years thanks to the great work by Lee and his team. Its a lovely, warm and welcoming place and offers an environment people can feel comfortable. The charity offers an 8 week course and the mentors who run the courses are all people who have suffered themselves and know exactly how that person is feeling and what they are going through and they have trained as a mentor themselves. A course for one person costs £30 and this charity gets no government funding, they rely on donations and fund raising which they also do themselves, holding events in the area like music festivals - we all know how much Jon loved his music too. It's such a worthy charity, for more info take a look at their website.

So please please please give anything you can to help raise money for this worthy cause and help those people suffering so they don't have to suffer in silence and can get the help they need. Maybe you know someone who has suffered or is suffering or just want to help a worthy charity. The race is going to be hard for me as for obvious reasons I haven't been able to train since I got the heartbreaking news about Jon. But the pain I'll feel in these little legs is nothing to the pain Jon suffered all of these years.

R.I P Jon, dance with the stars and be at peace xxx